Dental hygenist Julie Roehrenbeck checks on Octavio Lucero, 8, before taking an X-ray on March 16 at the Volunteers in Medicine dental clinic on Hilton Head Island. (Photo: Sarah Welliver/The Island Packet)

Volunteer Marcy Burroughs bags and places sterlized instruments in the sterilization center March 16 at the Volunteers in Medicine dental clinic on Hilton Head Island. (Photo: Sarah Welliver/The Island Packet)

Free Health Care

Volunteers In Medicine offers free medical, dental and mental health services to individuals who cannot afford it on their own and who meet certain criteria.

For more information on eligibility requirements, go to www.vimclinic.org or call 843-681-6612.

Setting the Record Straight

The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette correct all errors of fact. If you see an error in this article, please call the city desk at 843-706-8139. Corrections and clarifications will appear in this space.

Reprint & Reuse Policy

Web sites may link directly to search results and individual articles without permission.

Up to one paragraph of text may be included from an article as long as full attribution is given and the attribution links back to the full article.

The generosity of various community organizations has given the low-income population of Hilton Head and Daufuskie islands something to smile about.

Thanks to the Van Landingham Rotary Club, the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, the Bangs Family Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield and others, the nonprofit organization Volunteers In Medicine was able to expand its dental department. The recent expansion cost about $400,000.

The Rotary Club pledged $100,000 toward the project, $50,000 of which has already been given to the clinic.

"We're thrilled," the dental department's coordinator, Lois Schuhrke, said about the new clinic.

Schuhrke said the original dental clinic had five dental treatment rooms, and the new one has eight. That means the clinic can have two dentists and a dental student working at the same time. It also means they have room for more dental hygienists to volunteer. And all that means they can treat more patients.

Schuhrke said the clinic also added a state-of-the-art sterilization center and a larger laboratory, which make things easier for the volunteers at the clinic.

Run by a group of volunteer retired health care professionals, the Hilton Head Island clinic now has doctors that serve in 23 different specialties, according to Lisa Nowak, the clinic's director of development and communications. Volunteers In Medicine offers free medical, dental and mental health services to individuals who live or work on Hilton Head or Daufuskie islands, have no medical insurance and meet other requirements.

"We're always looking to do everything we can to expand our services to meet the needs of the community," Nowak said. "And we're just so thrilled to be able to add this new dental facility."